Forgetting, Flirting, and a Frash Raive
by slr2moons
Summary: Kazuma and Kinta make a mad dash through Kazuma’s elementary school in search of a forgotten object.


A/N This was my entry for the 2007 TGQ fanfic contest. The theme was "flash". And hey, I won!! X3

This is a work of fanfiction and has nothing official to do with this anime and manga in any way whatsoever.

.oOo.

_**Forgetting, Flirting, and a Frash Raive**_

Kazuma leaped out of the DDS van the moment it screeched to a halt. He ran towards the school, Kinta's footsteps pounding behind him. The taller boy quickly caught up to Kazuma and cuffed him on the head as he passed.

Kazuma barely managed to catch himself from tripping. "Owwww! What was that for?"

Kinta glanced over his shoulder without slowing down. "For forgetting that stupid frash raive!"

"_Flash drive!"_Kazuma gasped out and scowled in frustration at the high schooler's back as he easily shot ahead and vanished through the front door of Kazuma's elementary school, far in the lead.

"Why won't--" Kazuma panted for air, "you just...let it goooo?!" His wail trailed off into a sharp wheeze, and he kept his legs pumping through sheer will. He finally staggered through the front entrance to find Kinta waiting for him with arms crossed and breathing perfectly even.

Kazuma held his side and panted. He glared up at Kinta, who revoltingly didn't seem the slightest bit affected by their mad sprint. "I'm still...in the same...classroom. No...need to...wait," he wheezed. He bent over to breathe with his arms braced on his knees.

Kinta raised one eyebrow. "Sorry for waiting to make sure our dear techie survived his physical activity session for the day." He paused as Kazuma glared up at him again. "Besides, I can't run around an elementary school without an escort, even after hours. Kids are still here for club activities, right?"

"I guess." Kazuma straightened, his breathing finally becoming less desperate. "No need to bother changing shoes, since it's after hours. We don't have time, anyway. Follow me." He trotted down the hallway to the stairwell, Kinta close behind him. With a grimace, Kazuma started up the first flight. His wheeze quickly returned.

Behind him, Kinta grinned evilly as Kazuma's breathing echoed around them. "You really should consider improving your athletic ability, Kazuma. I mean, at the moment you're hopeless for physical stuff, and your tech skills are going downhill fast. What kind of techie forgets his frash raive?"

Kazuma whirled and nearly lost his balance on the narrow steps. _**"Flash drive!**_ Where did you put your short-term memory?!"

Kinta's grin widened. "In the same place as your frash raive, obviously. This whole case is hanging on that gizmo, and you go and leave it in your desk at school. Ha! Even _Ryuu_ looked annoyed!"

"Aarrrgh!!" Kazuma tried to vent his frustration by pounding up the remaining steps. He leaped into the hallway only to be jerked backward by Kinta's hand on his shirt collar. He fell against the taller boy, who clamped one arm around him and snatched the stairwell railing with his other hand to keep them both from tipping over backwards.

"Hey! Let go!" Kazuma craned his neck to stare at Kinta...who was blushing.

Kazuma froze.

"Oh! Narusawa-kun!"

The female voice broke through Kazuma's panic. He ripped his gaze away from his friend to see one of the second-year teachers standing right in front of them, a hand at her throat. She was lovely in a conservative and proper way, with shoulder-length brown hair and large eyes. And she was clearly rather shocked.

"Tachibana-sensei..." he murmured.

She took a step back and gave a relieved laugh. "You almost crashed into me, Narusawa-kun. Thankfully, your...um...big brother saved us both." Her face glowed in a soft--if slightly shaky--smile.

Kinta suddenly snapped awake. He shoved Kazuma aside and leaped from the stairs and into the hall in one bound. With a quick bow, he straightened and gave her a dashing smile. His grin impossibly brightened when she smiled in return.

Kazuma started when Kinta shot him a pointed glance. Very annoyed, the boy cleared his throat. "Tachibana-sensei, this is Tooyama Kintarou. Kinta, this is Tachibana-sensei. She teaches second year Japanese."

Kinta bowed again. "I am very pleased to meet you, Sensei. If my Japanese teacher had been as lovely as you, I surely would have paid more attention in class."

She blushed and ducked her head, unable to meet Kinta's gaze. "Tooyama-san? Then...you aren't Narusawa-kun's big brother?"

"_No!"_ Kazuma forced his voice to calm down. "He's here with me because I _forgot something."_ And clearly the flash drive had lost the battle for Kinta's attention once matched against an attractive older woman.

With disgust, Kazuma realized that neither person had heard him. To make things worse, as their conversation continued, it grew more and more obvious that Tachibana-sensei was actually _responding_ to Kinta's advances.

Kazuma's stomach twisted in resentment.

When Tachibana-sensei giggled at one of Kinta's lame jokes, the younger boy's patience finally snapped. He leaped between the two, arms spread. The pair gasped and both took a step apart. Kazuma stared Kinta into silence, then turned to face Tachibana-sensei and bowed very low.

"Tachibana-sensei, I must confess. Tooyama-kun is not my big brother...but he does live with my family." Kazuma ignored Kinta's startled noise behind him and straightened to gaze beseechingly into the teacher's eyes.

"The truth is, his father has a severe womanizing and gambling problem, and he ran up many debts for the family. Tooyama's mother worried that her son would take the same path, so she feared for his life and future. Through one of her friends, who is our maid, she begged us to take in Tooyama-kun while she and his father went into hiding from the Yakuz--um...from the _bad men._ I'm trying to be a good influence on him, as she wished, but I can't seem to break his habit of flirting with every woman he meets. I feel honor-bound to tell you of this, before Tooyama-kun gets you into trouble."

Through his soliloquy, Tachibana-sensei had gone from shock, to pity, back to shock, and finally a touch of anger. Kinta, however, was radiating such a level of fury from behind Kazuma that the air positively crackled with murderous intent.

Tachibana-sensei shifted her offended gaze to Kinta, gave a small, terrified squeak at the sight of him, and staggered backwards. Visibly trembling, she bowed, stammered out her apologies, whirled, and almost ran down the stairs.

Very smug, Kazuma watched her flee. Then with an evil grin, he turned to face Kinta. "We don't have time for women when we're on a case. Hongou-sensei and the others are waiting for us." He trotted past Kinta, whose entire body was rigid with repressed anger. "My classroom is this way, Casanova."

He finally heard Kinta follow him inside the room. The older boy hovered over him in stony silence as Kazuma rummaged through his desk. With a start, he pulled out an envelope and stared at it in shock. The flash drive wasn't the only thing he had forgotten today.

Kinta took one look at the pink paper, which was liberally decorated with shiny heart-shaped stickers and a cutesy drawing of a teddy bear, and snatched it from Kazuma's hands.

"What is _this?!"_

"Hey! Give that back!" Kazuma leaped at Kinta, who held the envelope high above his head. He titled it into the light and read the dedication aloud.

"'To Narusawa-_sama?!' _Oh no, oh no no no no _no!"_

"Arrrrghh!! Give it baaack!!" Kazuma danced around him, desperately trying to reach the love letter, his face bright red.

"This is why you forgot the frash raive, isn't it?"

"Arrrghh!!"

Kinta slid away from Kazuma, who had leaped up on a chair to try to snatch the envelope. "You were so worked up about getting this love letter that you completely forgot about the frash raive!!" He dodged another valiant retrieval attempt. "So worked up--oho--and you haven't even opened it yet! This is just too _precious!"_

With a strangled cry, Kazuma finally admitted defeat. He stood there, panting, face even redder than before.

Kinta tapped the letter on the palm of his hand, and when he spoke his voice had an evil lilt. "What was it you said...'we don't have time for women when we're on a case'?"

This time, the murderous intent radiated from Kazuma. "I was speaking from experience," he snarled.

"Indeed." Kinta leaned down to look Kazuma in the eye. He held up the envelope, then handed it to the younger boy. "Consider us even. Though technically, I should embarrass you in front of a cute girl to truly bring justice." He straightened, then dramatically shrugged. "But since I'm incredibly mature, I can let this go."

Kazuma shoved the envelope into his back jeans pocket and didn't say a word. He stomped out of the classroom, Kinta chuckling behind him. They quickly trotted back through the school, out the front gate, and piled inside the DDS van. Kinta closed the door with a satisfying _slam_ while Kazuma tried to calm his breathing yet again.

Kyuu turned to peer at them from the front passenger seat. "You guys sure took a while. Did you find it?"

Leaning over his knees and wheezing, Kazuma blinked at him and moved his hand to his pocket to check for the letter, relieved to hear the paper crackle slightly. "Find what?"

Kyuu looked puzzled. "The frash raive," he reminded them.

Kazuma jolted. He then viciously shoved Kinta back out of the van. They dashed towards the school gates once more, leaving the echoes of Kazuma's anguished wail and Kinta's laughter in their wake.

.oOo.

_(completed 5-15-07, last tweaked 8-29-08)_


End file.
